Fisherman reels in 3.2m hammerhead in 'mind boggling' catch

A LOGAN fisherman who reeled in a monster hammerhead shark in the Brisbane River says the catch was "mind boggling".

Kurt Ockenfels, 33, was fishing at the mouth of the river on Thursday when he pulled in the 3.2m shark.

The fisherman said he had caught similar sized sharks in the past, but had never seen a fish this big in the Brisbane River.

"We've caught 12ft plus tigers and 10ft plus bulls and 10ft plus hammers out in Moreton Bay and on Fraser Island," he said.

"But this shark coming out of the mouth of the river is the wow factor of this catch."

Mr Ockenfels said the monster catch had surprised everyone on board - especially those who had never experienced shark fishing.

"We've got a gentleman here who had never been shark fishing before and had never seen a shark," he said.

"And for him to experience that was out of this world for him."

Like all the sharks Mr Ockenfels reels in, this hammerhead was tagged and released back into the water.

"We don't know much about sharks and that's why we're out here tagging as many sharks as we can as often as possible," he said.

"It's all done at the highest professional level.

"We do it for the unknown, so we can all learn."

EARLIER:

A BRISBANE fisherman has reeled in a large hammerhead shark right at the mouth of the Brisbane River.

The approximately 3.2m hammerhead was pulled in by Kurt Ockenfels and his mates on Thursday.

Mr Ockenfels said it had been a surprise to find such a large shark so close to Brisbane.

"I have caught sharks like this before but this hammerhead of this size is a real surprise," he wrote on Facebook.

"I know you can catch big bulls like the beastly one Terry Hessey caught years back but i think this is out of this world. It shows you dont need to travel hundreds of kms to catch 10ft+ sharks, they are in fact right on our door step."

The shark was caught, tagged and released safely back into the wild.

Mr Ockenfels said he had been using 80 pound braided line with a small stingray for bait.